Recently, the minister of Justice and Social Affairs, Mr. Rocco Tjon held a meeting with the Social Security Council (Sociaal Veiligheidsraad), during which he received a thorough presentation of the new method which will be introduced, namely the Multi-dimensional Family Therapy (MDFT).
This involves a systematic therapy method for young people with one or more behavioral problems, which mainly involve problems of delinquency or substance addiction. This therapy method will provide lasting help to the families of these young people. This method will seek to mitigate the risk that the young person can be locked up; and will also provide guidance to the family so that when the young person recovers their freedom, they can reintegrate back into the family, and the family itself can guide the person.
Shortly, six therapists will begin this course, in order to be able to provide this service to the community as soon as possible.
It is the case that the Social Security Council meets regularly. It is a platform where all agencies come together, including Veiligheidshuis (safety house), the Department of Social Affairs, Voogdijraad (Child Protection Services), Family Justice Center, KIA (prison), Police Force, Fundacion Guiami. During this meeting, all these agencies indicated that his method has added value, because it is not only focused on one person but on the whole family and the whole system. Aside from this, the return on investment is that after a while, these people will not fall back into the system, but they will be helped and they will receive lasting help.
The course will have the duration of one year, meaning it will begin this upcoming September and it will finish next June, in 2023. It is intended to start with some cases in order to put it into practice right away, seeing that the method used is quite practical, so it will help the family not only through accentuating the bad parts, but more so correcting them, in order to truly help these families. MDFT professionals from the Netherlands will come to Aruba specially to give this course to the six therapists. The good part is that this method is sufficiently flexible, that can be adapted to the culture of Aruba.
Finally, an agreement was made that Veiligheidshuis will remain as point of coordination, which will make sure that when the cases are presented, these can be assigned to one of these therapists, and this way can be guaranteed that they receive the necessary help.
Thus according to a government press release, it was a very positive meeting towards a better future for the social chain, which will result in a reduced case load for some of the agencies, with the help of these six therapists.
